Statue at Regina legislature will commemorate deaths of millions in Ukraine

05/12/2015 08:45 EDT
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Updated
05/12/2016 05:59 EDT

CP

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REGINA - Dignitaries and members of the Ukrainian community gathered in Regina to officially dedicate a statue that will serve as a permanent reminder of the Holodomor, the man-made famine that devastated Ukraine during the early 1930s.

The bronze figure on the legislature grounds is a copy of a statue by sculptor Petro Drozdowsky in Kyiv called "Bitter Memories of Childhood."

It depicts a peasant girl collecting a wheat sheaf.

Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz says the artwork will foster greater awareness of the Holodomor and provide a permanent place for people to reflect upon the tragedy.

He says it will honour the memory of those who perished and the legacy of those who survived, including many who found refuge in Saskatchewan.

Millions died between 1932 and 1933 in what is regarded by historians as a deliberate campaign of terror perpetrated by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

"The Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Regina is happy to see our vision become a reality," Orest Gawdyda of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said Tuesday.

"We thank the Government of Saskatchewan and Wascana Centre Authority for making the Ukrainian community of Saskatchewan proud by having the Holodomor statue erected near the Saskatchewan Legislative Building."

More than 130,000 people in Saskatchewan identify as having Ukrainian ancestry.